Primary references span from 1840 to 1904 (Robinson passim, Thomas Papers; Smyth 1878; Howitt 1904). Howitt considered they formed the eastern most dialect of the Kulin speaking tribes. Their Kulin connection is confirmed by their visit to Melbourne in the early 1840s to participate in a gaggip (friendship ceremony) at the confluence of the Merri Creek and Yarra River. Mogullumbidj is not a language name, a sub-dialect name, or a clan name, rather it is a descriptive name, a term describing something distinctive about these peoples – in this case their appearance, the pigmentation of their skin (see Clark 2000b: 138, 318; 2000g: 94; Smyth 1878 vol.2: 157). The other name recorded for these people is Goo-goo-tum-bar, which may be a Yortayorta name for these people. Wesson (2000) is right to delineate this portion as ‘unnamed Kulin dialect’, however, in the absence of a language name, ‘Mogullumbidj’ should be retained, but as a descriptive reference.

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